Director Chris Renaud talks 'Despicable Me 2' (interview)

By Amy Longsdorf, The Pottstown Mercury

Updated:
06/25/2013 12:50:07 PM EDT

Steve Carell, a cast member in the "Despicable Me 2," poses alongside a minion character from the film at the American premiere of the film at Universal Citywalk on Saturday, June 22, 2013 in Universal City, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) (Chris Pizzello)

Filmmaker Chris Renaud has always been a big fan of the "Star Wars" movies but it wasn't the heroic Luke Skywalker or Han Solo who captured his imagination. From the very first time the Force was with him, Renaud was fascinated by evil genius Darth Vader.

"I always say that when I was a kid, I only played with the Darth Vadar and Storm Tropper action figures," recalls Renaud, who was born in Maryland but spent his teen years in Allentown, Pa. "I gravitated toward the villains. I think it's a common thing.

"[Villains] are very powerful [figures] who live by their own whims, and there's part of us that wishes we didn't have to follow the rules and always do the right thing. So it's a delight watching somebody who can actually live that way."

Given his love of all things dark and dastardly, it's no wonder that Renaud made his feature film directorial debut with "Despicable Me," a cartoon told from the perspective of diabolical bad guy Gru (Steve Carell).

The 2010 movie proved that Renaud wasn't the only one fascinated with villains. "Despicable Me" grossed more than $540 million, making it the 10th biggest animated motion picture in Hollywood history.

Now, Gru and his adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith and Agnes are back for more mischief in "Despicable Me 2," which Renaud co-directed with Pierre Coffin.

These days, Gru is a reformed scoundrel who, between developing a line of jams and jellies, is recruited by members (Steve Coogan, Kristen Wiig) of the Anti-Villain League to take down baddie Eduardo/El Macho (Benjamin Bratt).

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By Gru's side on his world-saving mission are his assistant Dr. Nefario, his girls and, of course, his Minions.

"The toughest challenge with any sequel is the [audience's] loss of a sense of discovery," says Renaud from Paris, where he's lived for the last five years with his wife and two children. "You don't want to simply retell the story of the first film.

"So we have exciting new characters, a new location, new gadgets and we take Gru and the girls to a new phase of life. We wanted to investigate how they've changed and grown.

"It's all a matter of getting the right balance. You want to deliver something new while not betraying what people liked about the first film."

Renaud was integral in shaping the stories of both "Despicable Me" movies. It was his idea in the first film to have Gru hatch a plot to steal the moon. This time around, Renaud wanted to make sure there was plenty for the audience-pleasing Minions to do. Hint: the yellow Minions meet their match in purple Minions.

"We wanted to give the Minions a more central role," says Renaud, who lends to voice to a couple of the gibberish-spouting creatures. "For the first film, the Minions were developed very much along the way. They weren't even in the original story pitches or scripts. But with this one, knowing that audiences really enjoyed them, we wanted to take not only Gru and the girls to the next level but also the Minions."

For Renaud, one of the trickiest assignments of the sequel (opening Wednesday) was making sure that the kinder, gentler Gru was interesting.

"We even talked about, `Should he still be a villain?' But he sort of left that behind at the end of the first film when he was becoming a responsible dad," says Renaud. "But we were always looking for ways to maintain his unique sensibility and perspective on the world."

Gru might be a good guy but he's far from a pushover. In fact, the filmmakers went out of their way to surround Gru with characters who bring out the demon in him.

"Gru is paired with an agent named Lucy Wilde, who played by Kristen Wiig, and she's his polar opposite," notes Renaud. "She's bubbly, optimistic and has a great personality. When he reacts to her, his cynical attitude comes out."

Renaud is famous for allowing his actors to improvise in the sound booth and he was rewarded this time around with fresh input particularly from Carell and Wiig, both of whom have training in improvisational comedy.

Originally, Al Pacino was cast as Eduardo but two months prior to the film's release, he left the production over "creative differences" about how the character should come to life.

"[Pacino] gave us some incredible contributions," says Renaud. "But Benjamin Bratt was another actor we were considering before Al. So we don't want an unhappy actor, and we want something that is well-realized on all sides. If you don't see eye to eye, sometimes it's easier to [part company] and move on from there."

While Renaud is in charge of all aspects of the production, he takes special delight in doing some of the initial storyboards, and then transferring those early drawings to a story reel.

Renaud has always loved to draw. He was still living outside Baltimore when his first-grade teacher recognized his natural artistic ability and pointed it out to his parents Pat and Jean who quickly signed their son up for art classes.

In the early 1980s, Renaud's father was transferred from Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point facility in Maryland to the main office in Bethlehem.

Chris wasn't crazy about switching high-schools after ninth grade but he quickly adjusted to life in Pennsylvania.

'I think the biggest thing about my years in Allentown was that it taught me that things change," says Renaud. "It taught me that it's best to embrace change and try to make the most of it rather than try and fight it.

"It also taught me that there's more of a world out there than what's right in front of your face. There's other people, other perspectives...those were life lessons that were extremely valuable and still serve me to this day."

After graduating from Parkland High School in 1985, Renaud studied illustration at Syracuse University before landing a job in advertising at a Manhattan firm.

Always a huge comic book fan, Renaud eventually wound up working for Marvel Comics. Drawing "Starfleet Academy," a "Batman" book, turned out to be great training for his work as a filmmaker.

"When you're a comic book artist, you get the opportunity to be the director and the cinematographer," he says. "You get a script and you have to realize the whole thing yourself. You have a month or so to [bring off] a 22-page script. You have to be fast on your feet because there is no one else there to fill in the blanks for you."

A few years later, Renaud landed a job at Blue Sky, an animation house that turned out such well-received 'toons as "Ice Age," "Robots" and "Epic." Next, he signed a contract with the Paris-based Illumination where he directed "Despicable Me" and "The Lorax," both of which were monster hits.

Renaud's 2015 project will be the final entry on his four-film contract for Illumination but he's already signed a new contract and is happy to be staying put in France.

"My wife and I are enjoying living in Paris," he says. "And I love working with Illumination. They've given me an unparalleled opportunity to keep directing one movie after another. Very often animation directors make one movie and then spend the next five years developing another one.

"But I'm in the unique position of being able to keep working and keep making movies...So I feel very fortunate."

Renaud also enjoys the fact that his movies put smiles on the faces of his kids, who are 10 and 7. "Its fun for them [and] it's fun for me to watch their reactions too," he says. "Sometimes I cross my fingers hoping their reactions are good ones. But I suppose I'm a 46-year-old bald kid myself so it's a lot of fun for all of us."